He’s like any other teenager. He enjoys listening to music and spending time with friends. He plays centerfield for his school’s varsity baseball team and is a forward for the basketball squad.

But in many ways, Stern is different. He’s a student of history. He plays the accordion. He’s fond of opera music. He’s reading “Ulysses,” just to say he did it.

He once spent three days refurbishing a decrepit upright piano he found at Mira Costa High School. He plays it often.

And he’s passionate about local politics. So much so, in fact, that he’s eyeing a seat on the Redondo Beach City Council.

“I think I could bring a unique perspective to the City Council,” Stern said. “I know it’s a cliche, but most change happens on the local level.”

Stern is 17. And because he is technically not old enough for his name to appear on the March municipal ballot as a candidate for the council’s District 4 seat, Stern said he’ll be running as an official write-in candidate.

Stern will turn 18 in January and said he has registered to vote in Los Angeles County, which requires that new voters be 18 before election day.

The Redondo Beach Municipal Code does not explicitly state an age requirement for council candidates, but mandates that a potential candidate be registered to vote.

However, while potential candidates can pull papers to run for council before they are eligible to cast a ballot, they cannot return the papers if they are not 18 by the filing deadline, City Clerk Eleanor Manzano said.

The deadline is today for the city’s March election.

Councilman Steve Diels, who represents the district, is termed out in 2013. Other possible candidates for the seat are political consultant Stephan Sammarco and library Commissioner Jan Jeffreys.

Stern said he is taking his candidacy seriously. He believes residents – and other candidates – should, too.

“Most City Council candidates have served on various city commissions,” said Stern, who is a senior at Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale and takes courses at El Camino College. “I respect their experience, but I come without baggage, I guess you could say.”

Redondo Beach Councilman Matt Kilroy, who is running for mayor, had Stern as a student in an eighth-grade science class he taught at Adams Middle School. Kilroy said he wasn’t surprised when he learned Stern had ambitions to run for local office.

“I think people should listen to what he has to say,” Kilroy said. “He has a lot of qualities that you could admire in someone you would want to represent you. He’s intelligent and has a lot going for him.

“Let me say, we could do worse,” Kilroy added.

Stern is among several young candidates across the state who have recently declared their ambitions for municipal office.

Jack Lento-Edrich, 18, ran unsuccessfully for a city council seat in Rocklin, Calif., in November on a platform of improving education and reining in local spending. He received about 2 percent of the vote.

And Aziz Akbari, an 18-year-old sophomore at USC, ran unsuccessfully in November for mayor of Fremont. He received more than 5 percent of the vote.

But there have been recent successes for young political candidates. In Arvin, a small city southeast of Bakersfield, 19-year-old Jose Gurrola beat out five other candidates in November to win a seat on the city council. Jeremy Yamaguchi won a seat on the Placentia council in 2008 when he was 19, becoming the youngest elected official in Orange County history.

Locally, Rafael Ramirez was elected to the Centinela Valley school board in 2003, when he was 18.

Still, Stern acknowledges he faces an uphill battle to secure a seat on the Redondo council. And being a write-in candidate certainly doesn’t help.

“It’s definitely a setback, but it encourages me to work harder,” Stern said. “Winning is not impossible.”

Stern, who drives an orange 1976 Mercedes-Benz and recently composed a classical march titled “Victory on Parade,” is running on a platform centered on promoting business growth and building economic activity on Artesia Boulevard by, in part, creating incentives for new merchants.

“If the harbor and waterfront area is the heart of Redondo Beach, then Artesia Boulevard is the vein that carries life to it,” Stern said.

The district is bounded by Harper Avenue to the west, Artesia Boulevard and Matthew Avenue to the north, Hawthorne Boulevard to the east and 182nd Street and Harriman Lane to the south.

Like Kilroy, Environmental Charter High teacher Joseph Ehrlichmann was not surprised when Stern told him about his plan to seek local office.

“He likes to be different for the sake of trying new, new things,” said Ehrlichmann, who had Stern in his American literature class last year. “That’s the cool thing about him, he’s willing to take on new challenges.”

In Ehrlichmann’s class, Stern was assigned to write a blues poem based on a lesson about the Harlem Renaissance. Not only did Stern write the poem, but he performed a poetic reading in front of his classmates with an accordion.

“He’s a creative writer and a talented in many creative ways,” Ehrlichmann said.

Stern tends to eschew technology, writing his term papers on a manual typewriter.

This isn’t Stern’s first time running for public office. About five years ago – when he was just 12 – he campaigned as a write-in candidate for the Los Angeles Superior Court bench. He made “Julian for Judge” business cards, with his campaign motto: “Hail peace and all who seek it.”

Stern’s father said his son plans to walk neighborhoods and knock on doors to get the word out.

“He’ll get attention, although I don’t know how that translates into electability,” said Randolph Stern, a Redondo Beach chiropractor. “He is tenacious and very intelligent. He will stick to the job.”

Stern said his son’s candidacy is an encouraging example of young people becoming engaged and working for positive change in their communities.

“Vote or not vote, but encourage the effort,” he said.

Stern said he expects to win. But if he loses?

“My time as a registered voter has just begun,” Stern said. “I have a long way ahead of me.”